Soccer Offside Rules – To which part of the striker’s body has the liner to watch out?

Accordingly to International Board Laws of the Game (Law 11 – Offside), the general rule for a player to be considered in an offside position is when he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.

There are situations in which this thumb rule is not applied (for example, as posted before, if the player receives the ball directly from a goal kick) which we will depict in future posts.

As for the matter concerning this present article the International Board’s Interpretation of the Laws of the Game and Guidelines for Referees state that “nearer to his opponents’ goal line” means that any part of a player’s head, body or feet is nearer to his opponent’s goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent. The arms are not included in this definition.